NEW DELHI: The final worldwide competitors for shooters earlier than the Olympics stands cancelled. India’s participation in the World Athletics Relays shouldn’t be potential. Freestyle wrestlers are anxious about their probabilities to be on the World Olympic qualifiers. The shuttlers’ participation in the Malaysian Open is in limbo. The males’s hockey group’s tour of Great Britain has been postponed.
The unwelcomed listing of setbacks for the Indian athletes making ready for the
Olympics, that are simply over two months away, is getting longer by the day.
But such is the lethality of the present Covid-19 wave in India that international
locations all over the world are left with no selection however to shut their
gates for Indian nationals.
India has been flagged ‘crimson’ by most nations all over the world because the
quantity of day by day Covid-positive circumstances in the nation have risen to
above 3 lakh on a constant foundation over the previous few days. The UK was
the primary to do this, adopted by different international locations.
ATHLETICS: RELAY HOPES TAKE A HIT
The ban has left worldwide journey for Indian athletes nearly unattainable.
Airlines have denied boarding to Indian nationals and re-routing has been
nearly unattainable due to strict no-entry restrictions for Indian passport
holders.
“Team @WASilesia21 sadly we won’t be able to join you. But we are sending our
best wishes to you. Have a great event, all the very best to everyone involved
from #TeamIndiaAthletics.”
This tweet from the Athletics Federation from India was put up
final night, in spite of everything their efforts to in some way fly the
runners for World Relays in Poland got here a cropper.
“We have been constantly speaking to the organisers, the World Athletics,
various consulates and airlines to reroute them. Under the present scenario,
nobody has obliged,” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla was quoted as saying.
India were to field women’s 4x100m and the men’s 4x400m relay teams in the
competition, with the former having a good chance to qualify for the Olympics
from the event.
COVID-POSITIVE CASES
The current wave of the pandemic, which intensified during the second week of
April, has taken its toll on individuals as well. Deepak Kumar (shooting),
Simranjit Kaur (boxing), Jinson Johnson (athletics) and several members of the
Indian women’s hockey team, including captain Rani, are the latest to fall prey
to Covid. All of them have qualified for the Olympics.
It has resulted in fresh anxiety for India just under three
months before the rescheduled Games in Tokyo in July-August.
Still, some are ready to “take the bullets” for the Olympics, while others have
made peace with the situation as a “blessing in disguise” or have been forced
to adopt a wait-and-watch approach.
SHOOTING: BAKU WORLD CUP CANCELLED
“This corona Tsunami has been inflicting lots of injury,” said Olympic-bound
veteran rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput while talking to Timesofindia.com.
“It’s unhealthy that we had only one competitors [Baku World Cup] to play
[before the Olympics] however as a result of of coronavirus, it has been
cancelled. But if we have a look at the present state of affairs, how unhealthy
it’s, then it might need occurred for our good – a blessing in disguise,” he
added.
My kind of weekends. More preparatory sessions at my
happy place. A little quieter than usual, though. #TeamIndia…
https://t.co/1y4KalZsYf
—
Sanjeev Rajput OLY (@sanjeevrajput1) 1618662842000
With a national camp for shooters in the current atmosphere
looking impossible, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had plans of
sending the shooters to Croatia, but even that looks unlikely now.
“We are nonetheless discussing [Croatia tour],” NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia
told TimesofIndia.com. “We had our first assembly in the present day
[Wednesday] with the coaches, and tomorrow [Thursday] the president [Raninder
Singh] has referred to as one other assembly. The president needed to know the
views of the coaches. We will take a name after the second assembly.”
HOCKEY: PRO LEAGUE TOURS UNDER A CLOUD
The men’s hockey team is back in the national camp at Bengaluru. Their next Pro
League engagement against Great Britain in London has been postponed and the
subsequent ones in Spain (May 15-16) and Germany (May 22-23) too have become
uncertain.
The German federation is hanging in to see what approach Spain adopts to the
developing situation, while remaining hopeful that they can host India on
schedule.
“We are nonetheless attempting all the pieces to make the Indians’ journey to
Germany potential. A ultimate suggestions from the authorities is pending,”
Christoph Menke, Sports Director, German Hockey Federation said.
BADMINTON: SAINA, SRIKANTH’S OLYMPIC HOPES OVER?
Meanwhile, main badminton stars like Kidambi Srikanth and Saina
Nehwal face an anxious wait to know if they’ll journey for the Malaysia Open.
(Saina Nehwal is currently ranked No. 22 in the world – AP Photo)
Malaysia, on Wednesday, announced a temporary ban on travellers to and from
India, which casts serious doubt over participation of Indian players in the
tournament beginning May 25-30.
In case the Indian players don’t make it to the tournament, it will all but end
Srikanth (currently ranked 20th) and Olympic bronze medallist Saina’s
(currently 22nd) hopes of Olympic qualification, which earlier received a blow
when the Indian Open was postponed and stripped off Olympic qualifier status.
The top 16 players make the cut for the Games.
Apart from Srikanth and Saina, the other leading Indian names scheduled to play
the tournament are PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth, besides ten doubles players.
WRESTLING: PLAYERS WAITING IN HOPE
The freestyle wrestlers’ still hoping to qualify for the Olympics were in for a
rude shock when they couldn’t board their flight to Amsterdam, on their way to
Bulgaria for the World Olympic qualifiers.
The 10-member wrestling squad was scheduled to board a KLM
flight on Tuesday night to travel to Sofia, but weren’t allowed after the
Netherlands government imposed a ban on Indian nationals.
As per the latest available information, the Wrestling Federation of India was
trying to book a flight for the players via Paris either on April 30 or May 1.
SATHIYAN READY ‘TO TAKE THE BULLETS’
Star Indian paddler G Sathiyan made it back to India from the Polish League
just before the latest Covid wave tightened its grip on India. He returned on
April 14 and has no tour lined up until the Olympics, which he wants to play at
any cost.
“League is finished now. There isn’t any worldwide competitors
until the Olympics. I’ve already referred to as up Anirban Ghosh [to Chennai]
for sparring,” Sathiyan told Timesofindia.com from his home. “So for the
subsequent two months, will probably be coaching with Anirban and Raman sir
[personal coach] and a pair of different gamers from my academy.”
Sathiyan, who has certified for the boys’s singles for the Tokyo Olympics, stated he’s doing all the pieces he can
to be match-prepared as soon as the Games start on July 23.
“It’s going to be a tough Olympics, for certain. But it is taking place, and I
feel we’re prepared to take any bullets,” said Sathiyan. “I shall be taking the
Covid vaccine in the primary week of May. There are lots of non-public
hospitals shut-by, or I can take it via ONGC [his employers] drive. It shall be
simpler there.”
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